Occupational safety and health of a remote worker | PROHR Press

2021.07.15

Remote working is now well established in our country, but the current legal regulations are rather laconic. Employers therefore have many doubts concerning, among other things, their obligations and Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) liability. The state of uncertainty should disappear when new regulations on remote working come into force, which the Ministry of Development, Labour and Technology has been working on for many months.

These provisions will be added directly to the Labour Code and will replace telework. Nevertheless, we will have to wait a little longer for the amendment. It will come into force only after the lapse of 3 months from the day on which the state of epidemics (or a state of epidemic risk) declared in connection with the SARS-CoV-2 infection is lifted in the territory of the Republic of Poland. For the time being, it is difficult to indicate a precise date for the entry into force of these provisions, but the Ministry has announced that it may be expected in the third quarter of this year.

The draft of the new regulations on remote working provides for a limitation of the scope of the employer's OH&S obligations (on the same principles as in the case of telework). Moreover, in the case of administrative and office positions, it will be possible to conduct initial OH&S training entirely remotely. The new regulations, however, will make it impossible to entrust remote workers with certain jobs, especially those that are particularly dangerous or arduous. Moreover, the employer will be obliged to carry out an occupational risk assessment for the position of the remote worker and, on its basis, prepare information containing principles and methods of appropriate organisation of the remote work place. The employee, in turn, will be required to submit a statement confirming that the remote workstation in the place indicated by the employee and agreed with the employer ensures safe and healthy working conditions.

It is clear from the new regulations that the employer will have to exercise due diligence, i.e. correctly perform the OH&S obligations towards the remote worker. However, it is the employee who will be responsible for the proper organisation of the remote work place, taking into account ergonomic requirements.

More in the article by Ph.D. Iwona Jaroszewska-Ignatowska and Zuzanna Rosner-Laskorzyńska "Occupational safety and health of a remote worker“ for  Occupational Health and Safety Monitor Inforlex (article of 15.07.2021).